Victims of Dead Man Walking [Hardcover]

Detective Michael Varnado (Author), Daniel P. Smith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 31, 2003

A vivid eyewitness account of the investigation into the murder of Faith Hathaway by Robert Lee Willie and Joe Vaccaro.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Mike Varnado's ability to fell a great story is topped only by his work as a first-class detective."

From the Back Cover

"Mike Varnado's ability to tell a great story is topped only by his work as a first-class detective." --Chris Buchanan, documentary film producer for PBS and associate producer of Angel on Death Row Victims of Dead Man Walking is the true story of the rape and murder of Faith Hathaway by Robert Lee Willie and Joe Vaccaro. Detective Mike Varnado provides a vivid eyewitness account of the investigation into her murder. Varnado was only twenty-five when he discovered Faith Hathaway's body. Finding her killers and bringing them to justice has been one of the most important endeavors of his life. But for Varnado, Faith's family, and the citizens of their quiet Louisiana community, the nightmare did not end with the capture and conviction of the murderers. While on Angola's death row, Robert Lee Willie was counseled by Sr. Helen Prejean, who wrote about him in her best-selling book, Dead Man Walking. He also served as the primary model for the character played by Sean Penn in the Academy Award-winning film version of Dead Man Walking. As Willie and his story achieved worldwide notoriety, Faith Hathaway, her short life, and her brutal death were almost forgotten by everyone but those closest to her. Victims of Dead Man Walking reminds readers of an aspect of the death-penalty debate that is too often forgotten--the innocent victim of crime, the victim's family, and the police officers, lawyers, judges, and ordinary citizens called upon to perform difficult but necessary roles in the pursuit of justice.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Pelican Publishing (May 31, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1589801563
• ISBN-13: 978-1589801561
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,127,051 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You've seen the movie - NOW learn about the real story ...., November 12, 2004

By 

Louisiana Native (USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Victims of Dead Man Walking (Hardcover)

Victims of Dead Man Walking has been the most difficult, tear-jerking, enraging, must read I have come across. Ever. This brutal rape and murder happened not far from my home, and Faith's memory is still well within the minds and hearts of people all over our area. She was a beautiful, smart, 18 year old young lady who had the world within her reach on graduation day. But a cruel, unrelenting Robert Willie and Joseph Vaccaro, both of them boasting about a life of crime without remorse, stole Faith Hathaway away from this earth. They raped her repeatedly, stabbed her until the gaping wounds nearly severed her head, and left her to die alone in Fricke's Cave, only to be discovered 8 days later by a then 25 year old whip detective Mike Varnado. Hollywood doesn't want you to know these things. They would rather you believe that a then 24 year old "Matthew Poncelet" (a dead ringer for Robert Willie if there ever was one), who received the death penalty by electric chair, became a remorseful repentant man when he met his fate. Nothing of the sort ever occured. His partner in crime, Joseph Vaccaro, sits this day in a federal penitentiary still serving out his sentence for yet another crime, the rape and kidnapping of a "16 year old from Madisonville".

This book is so very well written it feels as though Detective Mike is speaking to you personally. He makes it easy, while terrifying, to put yourself in his shoes, countless sleepless nights after discovering Faiths swollen, nude, decomposing body in the once family oriented Fricke's Cave. You can feel the anger rise up from the pages from a very cruel young man who boasted of his murders, who never showed remorse, but loved the attention he gained from the spectacle of a nun and the television news. After the book DMW and movie of the same name, the real story of Faith Hathaway was nearly forgotten until Detective Mike brought forth the true details of the crime. One need not be pro nor con death penalty to learn valuable lessons and true facts of Faith Hathaway. After speaking with Faith's mother personally, I learned that Mrs. Harvey (Faith's mother) asked Tim Robbins (DMW director) to at least visit the area of Fricke's Cave where her daughter was left to die. Mr. Robbins response was "I don't have the time". Please - make the time for this book, the REAL story of the Victims of Dead Man Walking. These words by Detective Mike will make you a litttle wiser to the facts of this young girl, the trial that followed, and could very well give you the knowledge to save your own life one day.

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Important book in debates on crime and punishment, July 23, 2006

By 

Elizabeth A. Root (Laurel, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Victims of Dead Man Walking (Hardcover)

This book is valuable for anyone interested in the debates about justice, but particularly for readers of Helen Prejean's Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account Of The Death Penalty In The United States. I also advise reading Debbie Morris' Forgiving the Dead Man Walking: Only One Woman Can Tell the Entire Story, and the Bourgue family's Dead Family Walking: The Bourque Family Story of Dead Man Walking, both written by victims of the murderers for whom Helen Prejean was such an eloquent advocate. This is not as appealing as Dead Man Walking, not as warm and fuzzy, but it is an unflinching, indeed horrific, look at the reality of murder and vicious cruelty.

I believe that if we, as a society, release someone whom we have good reason to believe is dangerous, we are responsible for future acts of violence. Not as a responsible as we are for executing an innocent person, but still bearing a burden of guilt. What I like best about the book is that he talks about the reasons that keep me from accepting the abolition of the death penalty. Varnado points out that the arguments that are advanced against the death penalty could, with slight editing, be advanced against any punishment; at 53, I can remember when they were. Executing the murderer doesn't bring back the victim, but neither does anything else. Many of the leaders of the abolition movement, currently begging us to be content with life-without-parole (LWoP), are the same people who have been opponents of any long-term imprisonment. I don't think that we would have LWoP if we didn't have a death penalty. Given the arguments against three-time loser laws, will people who don't accept LWoP for three felonies, even if they are all violent, continue to support LWoP for a murder, however heinous? I think they'd revert to their earlier and more sincere opinions.

It's not an easy question. The legal system is simultaneously too harsh and too soft. Innocent people have been convicted. Chills go down my spine when mayors, governors, etc., announce that heads will roll if someone isn't accused within 48 hours. "Testilying", i.e., false information by the police, is apparently all too common, but the defense is no better. Obviously our legal system is not too concerned about public safety: convicts are given probation, violate it, and are simply given probation again. I hear horrifying tales of the carelessness of parole boards.

I have also come to think less of Helen Prejean, the more I know about her. I finished Dead Man Walking not convinced, but with great respect for her. As she has become more famous, and more information is available, it has become clear that she feels her cause justified lying and general carelessness with the truth. As Varnado and Debbie Morris point out, she simply accepted what Willie told her without any investigation. It was fine as his spiritual advisor to deal with the world as he saw it, but when she crossed the line into legal advocate and author, such sloppiness became irresponsible. Further, she apparently was knowingly telling a lie when she claimed Willie was remorseful. Not only did he contradict her in his own interview, but Debbie Morris told us that she admitted that she didn't think he was capable of remorse. She has now written a book about people who were supposedly innocent of the crimes for which they were executed; I suppose that I will read it, but at this point, I wouldn't take her word for it. She has co-founded a program for victims, but as Varnado points out, she remains extremely insensitive to them as individuals. Her prayer condemning the participants in an execution, including the victim's parents, is a case in point. She topped this off by not considering how they would feel about appearing in her book, let alone the movie! She's great at touching apologies, but they only mean something if one tries to do better.

Readers concerned about valuing the murderer over the victims may also be interested in reading The Victim's Song by Alice Kaminsky; Yale Murder by Peter Meyer; and The Killing of Bonnie Garland: A Question of Justice by Willard Gaylin.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A terrifying must read!, October 13, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Loss of Faith: The Dead Man Walking's Forgotten Victims (Paperback)

This is a story that had to be told...and told the way it really happened. This book will help people to remember that the victim was the girl who was brutally raped and murdered...not the murderers themselves. Whether or not you are for or against the death penalty...this is a must read. When most people think of the Dead Man Walking case they think of the movie- which led us all to feel sympathy for this brutal killer. The focus of this book is what it should be...an account of the victims that were forgotten when the movie was watched by millions. After this story is told the sympathy and compassion will lie where it belongs...with the victims and their families. This is truly a bone-chilling story that will leave an imprint on your soul.